Archive for December, 2013

As 2013 comes to a close, we’re taking a look back on the year and some of the accomplishments supporters like you have made possible.

Earlier this year, we joined thousands of hard-working Americans in Washington, D.C. to rally in support of American Energy Jobs.

We stood up to fight new proposed EPA regulations and asked you to stand with us. Thousands of you answered our call, and signed on to our letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy asking her to protect coal jobs and coal communities.

This year we also saw some of our coal-fueled power plants reach major milestones. Mississippi Power’s Kemper Energy Campus, one of our cleanest coal-fueled projects, moved closer to completion energizing it’s final 115kV transmission line earlier this month.

One of our biggest accomplishments this year was made possible by supporters like you. This year hundreds of thousands of new supporters joined our ranks at events across the country and online through our social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and our email program.

As we look forward to 2014, we know supporters like you who share our goal of protecting coal jobs and coal communities will help us keep the fight going.

We’re committed to ensuring that American families and businesses continue to have reliable, affordable energy from coal.

Job losses, economic uncertainty and higher energy costs for families and businesses are the real impacts of the plant closures that the Sierra Club continues to celebrate.

This week, Sierra Club officials touted their success in the planned closures of one-third of coal-fueled plants over the next 10 years.

The Sierra Club isn’t alone in their efforts. Recently proposed regulations from the EPA abandon the “all-of-the-above” energy approach our country needs, in favor of a politically motivated push to drive coal out of our energy mix.

The sad fact is Americans are paying the prices while they gleefully pat themselves on the back for destroying jobs, towns and communities throughout our great country.

One state bracing for the impact of these harmful impacts is Indiana. More than 29,000 Hoosiers go to work each day at a job related to producing energy from coal and EPA’s proposed regulations are a direct threat to their way of life.

These aren’t just facts and figures or numbers without names. CoalBlog.org recently published a letter from Shad Montgomery, a Safety Director at Sunrise Coal who spoke at the EPA’s Chicago listening session.

Shad is part of a long tradition of coal miners: his grandfather and great-grandfather mined coal that helped to power Indiana. He’s not just concerned about his fellow miners and their jobs, he’s worried about his mother and people like her across the country.

Shad’s mother is one of 190,000 people in Indiana who are 60 years and older living at-or-below the poverty line. She suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and spends the beginning of each month figuring out how she will cover her expenses. People like Shad’s mother, 29 percent of them in fact, struggle with the same decision each month – do they buy food, pay for the medications or pay their electric bill so they can stay warm and keep the lights on.

We can’t allow groups like the Sierra Club to gamble with people’s lives and well-being. We have to find a sensible path forward that ensures people can keep their jobs and have reliable, affordable energy.

We invite you to speak out for miners like Shad Montgomery, and their families. Sign our letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and tell her that you support coal communities.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court and the D.C. Circuit Court are hearing testimony about two of the EPA’s most controversial rules – the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and Utility MACT.

We’re glad to see the Courts are taking on the overreaching and overzealous EPA rulemaking that’s crippling the nation’s coal fueled electric sector and threatening our economy.

Now we can only hope the court will do the right thing and strike these rules down once and for all.

The Supreme Court will be reviewing one aspect of the EPA’s regulations for greenhouse gas emissions and the D.C. Circuit Court will review the EPA’s mercury emissions rule – a rule that has already resulted in the planned closure of hundreds of coal-fueled power generating units in the United States.

We’re hopeful that the Courts will do the right thing and strike down these harmful rules, but regardless of the outcome of these cases, we’ll continue to fight to protect the hard-working men and women of this country who get up everyday to ensure that we all have affordable, reliable energy.

You can be a part of our fight. Visit EPARegsCostJobs.com and sign our letter to the EPA. Tell them you support jobs, not politically motivated, harmful regulations.

It seems unbelievable that in our current economy, anyone would spend millions of dollars trying to destroy American jobs, but that is exactly what the Sierra Club has been doing throughout 2012.

Over the course of the last year, the Sierra Club spent roughly $27 million dollars trying to force closures of coal-fueled generating plants.

These plant closures that they’ve been celebrating aren’t abstract. They aren’t theoretical. They represent real people losing real jobs.

Our own Laura Sheehan spoke to SNL Energy to talk about this recent big dollar push from environmental activists.

“Much like David facing Goliath with a slingshot, we know the odds are against us. At the end of day, however, right is on our side. We are fighting for the men and women throughout this country who get up every day to ensure that all Americans have the affordable energy they need to power their lives.”

We know how important it is to fight for American jobs and reliable, affordable energy for our families and our businesses and we plan to keep fighting to protect our coal communities.

What’s worse than the Sierra Club celebrating job losses is their true purpose in these efforts. They’re trying to use these coal-fueled plant closures as nothing more than a fundraising ploy.

“Unlike the Sierra Clubs of the world, what we do is not designed to raise money; it is designed to protect Americans’ best interests.”

What this boils down to is very straight forward – we’re protecting American jobs and communities that rely on coal, while the Sierra Club is lining their own pockets. Campaigning to put hardworking American men and women out of a job isn’t something of which any group should be proud.

Mike Duncan is the president and CEO for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and promoting the use of coal...
Read Full Biography +

Laura SheehanSenior Vice President
Communications

Laura Sheehan is a seasoned public affairs expert with more than a 20-year track record in policy communications, media relations, crisis and issues management, community and...
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Julia TreanorSenior Director
Communications

Julia Treanor is a strategic communications and public affairs professional with nearly 10 years of experience in digital strategy, issue advocacy, political communications, media ...
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China RiddleCommunications Coordinator
Communications

China Riddle is a Communications Coordinator at ACCCE. Growing up in the heart of coal country, China understands the important role coal-based power plays in America’s energy and economic future.Read Full Biography +

Jade DavisSenior Director
State Affairs and Outreach

Jade Davis is the Senior Director of State Affairs and Outreach at ACCCE. In his current role, Jade works with ACCCE’s regional and communications staff and government affairs staff ...
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